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It is time for my annual tax levy rant. I am paying my personal property taxes and it always makes me so angry. I am not angry that I have to pay taxes, although I have lived in two other states that do not require that you pay taxes on your vehicles every year. I am mad that Lee's Summit R7 gets so much money and does so little with it.

We have the highest paid Superintendent in the State of Missouri. We have a $12 million aquatic center. We have an $8.6 million administrative center. We have AstroTurf on our football fields. We have $250,000 band uniforms. We have students that are not receiving the Free and Appropriate Education that they are entitled to.

My tax levy for Lee's Summit is 6.1192. My tax levy for Stover is 3.4300. Trust me, my child would have gotten no less services or education in Stover than he got in Lee's Summit.

I'm in the midst of remodeling my home so that we can get out of this hell hole and move to my land in Gravois Mills. I am s…

Dear Colleague Letter On Retaliation Law from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights A friend and parent who has had similar issues dealing with their school district pointed out to me today that the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (ED OCR) recently posted a Dear Colleague Letter on their website regarding Retaliation. I find it funny that the Dear Colleague letter was posted one day before ED OCR sent out a monitoring letter to our school district that had been delayed for nearly 9 months. ED OCR will occasionally post Dear Colleague letters when they see a preponderance of problems in school districts, colleges and universities that fall under their jurisdiction. This Dear Colleague letter is significant in the fact that our school district has taken the sta…

“Test scores have everything to do with the size of your house.”
The term refers to a consistent difference in academic success between minority or low-income students and the rest of their classmates. The disparity can be seen in those who drop out and others who find success in college, but most often it shows up in standardized testing.
It’s endemic to public schools across the country. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Education tested 12th-graders in 11 volunteer states through its National Assessment of Educational Progress. In math, 7 percent of black students scored at or above the proficient level, while 33 percent of white students reached the mark. In reading, 49 percent of the students whose parents had graduated from college surpassed the proficient level, while only 24 percent of the students whose parents’ educations ended at high school scored as well.

Services to aid a student in their move from the world of school to the world of post-secondary education and employment have been delineated and improved in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act with each re-authorization. The purposes of IDEA include ensuring that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education (FAPE) that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment and independent living. The term “transition services” means a coordinated set of activities for a child with a disability that:•Is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the child with a disability to facilitate the child’s movement from school to post-school activities, including post-secondary education, vocation…

Another Extremely Bad Decision at Fox C-6! Parents at Seckman Elementary in the Fox C-6 School District were informed in a letter on December 17, 2014 from acting superintendent Tim Crutchley that an interim principal was being assigned to their school mid-year. Below is the text from that letter:Wednesday, December 17, 2014Dear Parents,

Earlier this month, it was announced that Ms. Simokaitis would be transferring from her role as principal of Seckman Elementary to an assistant principal role at another elementary school within the district. Again, I wish to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Simokaitis for her work with students and staff during her tenure at Seckman Elementary.

Creating a change in leadership can be difficult in the middle of a school year. Originally, the district planned to select an interim principal from current assistant principals in the district. Upon closer examination of the situation and needs of ou…

The following came from the Lee's Summit R-7 District Website. They sent this out in an email to all in the district, in a district newsletter, and it is on their website. They also had stories in the Lee's Summit Journal, Lee's Summit Tribune, and Kansas City Star. As you can see, most of the information that they provided was false. They have made no attempt to correct this and most of the public continues to believe that they are the best option for children in the Kansas City area. Missouri education officials select Lee's Summit R-7 School District to present program on autism education at state-wide conferenceSelection based on district's exemplary services for special-needs students This is not only wrong, it is immoral to let people believe that Lee's Summit is doing anything but a poor job with our children. I can give you the names of numerous families that will testify to this. Many have already sent letters to Heidi Atkins-Lieberman about this.…

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — A Lee’s Summit woman said her five-year-old says her son was left alone sleeping on the floor in a dark room inside a school, while the staff she pays to watch him was nowhere in sight. Katie Fitzsimmons said that on Friday, just before 6:00 p.m., she went to get her kindergartener who is in the Lee’s Summit School District’s after-school program at Prairie View Elementary School. ”I went to pick him up from after school care and the lights were out and the doors were locked I rang the doorbell several times and no one answered,” said Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons says finally a janitor opened the door and told her everyone was gone. She says she freaked out, called police and started banging on the doors again. “They opened the door and I said can we just check to see if he’s down there and sure enough he was down there,” said Fitzsimmons. She says she wants to know why her five-year-o…

However, Lee’s Summit Superintendent David McGehee made it known in a tweet after the board’s announcement that he wanted new leadership from outside the department.“Chance to heal and regain trust is lost,” he wrote. “Shame on you @MOEducation State Board. Reality and perception collide with no surprises here.”

I feel the same every election. We have the same people on the school board, the city council, the CAC, Lee's Summit Cares, and every other organization in this town. We need new leadership in Lee's Summit. We need a chance to heal and regain trust. We will never see it, either.

However, Lee’s Summit Superintendent David McGehee made it known in a tweet after the board’s announcement that he wanted new leadership from outside the department. “Chance to heal and regain trust is lost,” he wrote. “Shame on you @MOEducation State Board. Reality and perception collide with no surprises here.” Asked if he wanted to elaborate, McGehee said through a district spokeswoman that the tweet could stand alone.

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — A sex offender impersonating Santa Claus was arrested Thursday — not for playing Santa, but for failing to register as a sex offender. A detective for the Jackson County Sheriff’s office received a tip that a known sex offender was working as a local Santa Claus impersonator. The offender, identified as 50-year-old James R. Gray, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., was contacted, and the report was confirmed. Although it is not illegal to play Santa, Gray was arrested and charged with failure to register as a sex offender for not reporting his employment as lawfully required. “Anyone that poses as Santa Claus, who has committed sex crimes against children, is a serious concern”, Sheriff Mike Sharp said. “In Gray’s case, as all others, there is zero tolerance when not reporting information as required.” Gray’s bond has been set at $20,000 cash. His court date is unknown at this time. However, he will appear in Division 3…

Just like the folks on the other side of the state have finally gotten answers to questions and the district is finally being held accountable, we are finally getting answers. It has taken awhile and we still need to get a few answers, but we are so close now. You can only cover up things for so long before those skeletons start falling out of the closet.

Homeschooling should be a choice, not a necessity. That is what it has become. I'm tired of paying tax dollars to make my superintendent the highest paid in Missouri while our children are abused and denied services. I'm so glad my children are grown, but I worry about my grandchildren now.

The Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a plan of action to help remediate weaknesses in your child’s school performance. It also is a legal document which provides your child with a disability with necessary related services in order to benefit from special education services in order to receive a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Related services considered for each child with a disability depending on their disability and/or need include the following:• Audiological services• Aide services• Speech/language services• Transition services• Special transportation services• Adaptive physical education services/recreation services• Interpreting services• Orientation and mobility services• Medical services• Counseling services• Nursing services• Social work services• Occupational therapy services• Physical therapy…

The Fight Continues
Parents protest R-7 official’s autism presentationBy Brett Dalton, The Journal Staff A series of meetings that may have eased the tension between the R-7 School District and the Lee’s Summit Autism Support Group have been put on hold after members of the LSASG protested a conference at which an R-7 official was speaking. After Sherri Tucker, co-founder of the LSASG, was unsuccessful in her bid for a seat on the R-7 Board of Education earlier this year, R-7 Superintendent David McGehee reached out to Tucker in hopes the two groups could find at least some common ground. Tucker and other LSASG members have been consistently outspoken about what they feel is a lack of proper services and programs within the school district for children with special needs. In fact, Tucker admitted freely that she ran in the April election solely on the issue of benefiting students with special needs. And she pulled no punches when criticizing the school district. While McGehee said there …